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Emem Okeke Diary Entry
Life of a Slave in the Middle Passage

Dear Diary,

My name is Emem Okeke and I am 13 years old. I have just come off of a train transporting me to a plantation in America. I have been separated from all of my family (my mother, father, my brother and my sister) and I am most likely going to a different plantation. I was living in Sierra Leone when I got kidnapped. My tribe was a peaceful one, and we weren’t in any wars at the time, but while all of our tribe was asleep, another tribe ambushed us in the middle of the night. Our tribe leader was killed in the attack and about half of our tribe was kidnapped. We were all marched towards the forts at the shore to wait for the merchant ships to arrive. We could not run away , as we were tied up,

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